Animal Crackers
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: Forgive the lousy title. Spike the dragon, Twinkles the cat, Brandy the dog, and Duck Soup are off on an adventure of their own.
1. Another Day in Paradise

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: A new take on an MLP story. This one features the little animal buddies that came with the Pretty Parlor (Twinkles the cat), the Show Stable (Brandy the dog), the Waterfall (Duck Soup the . . . . errrr, duck), and Dream Castle (Spike the dragon, of course!) In the UK comics I've seen, Brandy, Twinkles, and Duck Soup were able to talk to the ponies. However, in my MLP world, only Spike can understand them, and the four animals can talk to each other, too. It should also be noted, though I'm not terribly fond of "Gender Switching," which is somewhat of a common trend in the MLP fandom, I do this here, only because the toy version of Duck Soup looks like a boy to me, whereas box stories, the UK comics, and the like have Duck Soup as a girl._

* * *

It was a bright, sunny day in Ponyland. Twinkles the cat was sleeping in a patch of sunlight that was pouring through the windows of Paradise Estate. It was the perfect spot for a little cat nap. Unfortunately, Brandy the dog wasn't about to let her sleep in. He snuck up on the little orange kitten.

"Rowf, rowf, rowf, rowf!" he barked.

"MEOW!" Twinkles screeched, as she literally hit the roof. She was hanging upside down from the ceiling, digging her claws in so she could stay there without falling. Brandy was rolling on his back laughing.

"Very funny!" Twinkles shouted.

"You should've seen the look on your face!" Brandy laughed.

"Oh go bury a bone!"

Twinkles let her claws go, and she ended up crash landing on Brandy's back.

"Oof!" Brandy shouted. "Hey, watch it! I thought cats always land on their feet!"

"Sometimes," Twinkles said, climbing off Brandy with as much dignity as she could muster. "But I'm just a little kitten! I'm still practicing to land on my feet."

Twinkles started back to her sunbeam, when Brandy let out a bark, and jumped on top of Twinkles.

"Hey!" the little orange kitten shouted.

"Cats always land on their feet," Brandy said. "And dogs always land on their cats!"

"Get offa me, you . . . . . you . . . . you dog!"

"Make me!"

Twinkles hissed, and swiped Brandy with her claws. She got him in the nose. He let out a yelp and jumped off.

"Ouch! Owie, owie, owie, owie!" Brandy whimpered.

"Big baby," Twinkles muttered.

"That does it!"

Brandy began growling. Twinkle's fur bristled, and she went running, mewing her head off, as Brandy followed after her, barking like crazy. They ran past Peachy and Lemon Drop, and the two ponies just stared after their pets.

"There they go again," they said in unison.

Twinkles and Brandy continued running around, mewing and barking, until they came to the waterfall where Sprinkles, Bubbles, and Duck Soup were sitting, washing themselves.

"What's all that noise?" Bubbles asked.

"Look out!" Sprinkles shouted, flapping her wings as hard as she could.

"Yikes!" Bubbles shouted, jumping out of the water, as she saw Twinkles and Brandy come running.

Duck Soup hadn't gotten away in time, and Twinkles and Brandy ended up trampling him.

"Hey!" he quacked. "Hey, come back here! Why I oughta . . . ."

Duck Soup ran off after the dog and cat, quacking all the way, mad as a hornet! Sprinkles and Bubbles looked at them as if they were crazy.

"Never a dull moment," Sprinkles sighed, with a shake of her head.

The three animals circled back to Paradise Estate, mewing, barking, and quacking all the way. Spike the dragon was sitting at a picnic table eating some ice cream. He heard all the commotion, and turned around to see what was going on.

"Huh?" he asked. Twinkles jumped on him.

"Ooh!" Spike shouted. "Twinkles!"

Before he could say anything else, Brandy came running by, and hit Spike as well. But he kept on running.

"Oof!" Spike shouted. "What was that?"

In a fury of feathers, Duck Soup came quacking by, and he plowed into Spike. That last one did it. Spike was knocked into his bowl of ice cream, spilling it all over.

"That does it!" he shouted. "Come back here!"

Spike took off running after Twinkles, Brandy, and Duck Soup, yelling at them as he went. Duck Soup kept quacking, Brandy kept barking, and Twinkles kept mewing. Twinkles was running as fast as she could, until she saw Peachy. She jumped onto her back and stayed there.

"Huh?" Peachy asked. Then she saw the procession behind the cat. "Whoa! Whoa, hold it! Hold it. STOP!"

But it was too late. All the animals plowed into Peachy, and knocked her off her feet. That stopped the chase. Julie, who was standing in the distance, began giggling. She wasn't making fun of what just happened. But the sight of Peachy laying on the ground in a tangle of her legs, plus Spike, Duck Soup, and Brandy, with Twinkles on the pony's back, was pretty funny.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" Julie called. Twinkles mewed happily and trotted over to Julie. The little girl picked up the little orange kitten and gave her a hug. Twinkles rubbed against Julie's chin and purred contently.

"Favorite," Brandy mumbled.

Twinkles glared at Brandy and blew him a raspberry. Julie didn't notice. She took Twinkles, and started for the fields of Dream Valley. She lay down on her back, and held Twinkles in the air. By far, her favorite pony was Medley, followed by Cupcake. But of all the little ponies' little animal friends, Twinkles was her favorite. Julie giggled, and put Twinkles on her stomach, and stroked her from her head to her tail. Twinkles purred like an outboard motor.


	2. The Crows

Life didn't get much better at Paradise Estate. All the little ponies and their friends were running around and playing, finding something to occupy their time. All that was about to change. A fleet of big, black crows came flapping towards the Estate, cawing all the way. While on their way to the Estate, some swooped down and scooped up anything that was made of gold. The crows had a thing for gold. They could sense it anywhere. As the little ponies were playing, the crows came swooping down, knocking Fizzy and Galaxy off their feet.

"What was that?" Fizzy asked.

"I don't know, but here it comes again!" Galaxy shouted. She and Fizzy ducked. They looked up and saw the crows.

"Oh my!" Galaxy shouted. "The sky's filled with crows!"

"Where's a scarecrow when we need one?" Sparkler asked as she ducked an oncoming crow.

Posey grabbed a broom and began swinging it at the crows.

"You keep away from my garden!" she shouted.

But the crows weren't heading for the garden. Four flew into the estate through an open window. They went through the kitchen. Cupcake let out a scream, and grabbed a pot from the cabinet.

"Shoo! Shoo!" she shouted. "Get out of my kitchen!"

The crows cawed, and flew off. They flew around the bend and into one of the bedrooms. They began ripping it apart until they tore open the box that held Mimic's horseshoes. They took them, and flew off. Mimic walked in, just in time to see the birds fly out the window.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Hey! Hey you pests! You wrecked my room! Oooh, be glad I can't fly or else you'd get it!"

Mimic didn't even notice that her horseshoes were gone. The crows then flew into the Show Stable, where Lemon Drop was setting up her jumping drills for the ponies to keep in shape for a track and field event she was planning. She even had gold trophies to give to the ponies who had the best times in their jumps. She heard the cawing and looked out the window. A fleet of them breezed past her and knocked her flat on her back, with her legs sticking up in the air.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Sunday flyers!"

The crows took all the trophies, and burst through the jumps, and tore up Lemon Drop's blue ribbons. Then they were gone. Lemon Drop grumbled and began cleaning up the mess.

"If they come back," she groused. "I'll make pillow stuffing out of them!"

The birds continued to fly through the sky, until they reached the daisy field. Julie looked up at the crows and let out a blood curdling shriek. She and Twinkles jumped to their feet, and took off for Paradise Estate as fast as they could. One of the crows landed on Julie's back with such force, it knocked her to the ground. Once she was flat on the ground, the crow began pecking at her neck. Twinkles let out a scared meow, and darted underneath a bush. These crows were huge! They outweighed her quite a bit. The poor little kitty was scared out of her mind! Julie wasn't a barrel of laughs, herself. The crow pecked and scratched at the back of her neck until finally, it pulled the chain of Julie's gold heart shaped locket off, and flew into the air with it. Julie staid right where she was and began to wail like a siren. Cupcake, Galaxy, Wind Whistler, and Megan ran to her.

"Julie, are you all right?" Galaxy asked.

"I was so scared!" Julie cried. "It was biting me and scratching me, and it really, really hurt!"

"Oh there, there," Cupcake said, soothingly. She gently nuzzled Julie, and let the little girl cry into her mane. "It's all right now, honey. It's all right. That mean old crow is gone now, and he's never, ever coming back."

"Those were the biggest crows I've ever seen in my life," Megan said.

"Indeed," Wind Whistler agreed. "They were quite enormous. But I highly doubt they'll revisit Paradise Estate."

Even with the comforting news about the crows never returning, Julie was still crying. Megan moved Julie's hair out of her way to inspect the back of her neck. Sure enough, she was bleeding. The crow had pecked and scratched a little too hard.

"Come on, Julie," Megan said, taking her cousin's hand. "Let's go get you cleaned up."

"And then, you can be the first to have some of my world famous strawberry shortcake," Cupcake said.

Julie sniffled and nodded. Megan and the little ponies took her inside the Estate. Duck Soup, Brandy, and Spike were staring up at the sky, wondering where in the world those crows could have come from.

"You can come out now, Twinkles," Brandy said. "They're gone."

"Thank goodness!" Twinkles shouted, crawling out of the bush.

"Oh brother, what a scaredy cat!" Duck Soup shouted.

"I am not a scaredy cat!"

"Well cats are supposed to chase birds and what did you do when those crows showed up? Some cat you are!"

"You mean I should chase birds?"

"Yes."

"All birds?"

"Of course!"

"Then start running!"

The fur on Twinkles back bristled, and she lunged at Duck Soup. Duck Soup let out a loud quack and flapped his wings, trying to get away from the angry kitten.

"Hey, whoa, wait!" he shouted. "I didn't mean _me_!"

"You said all birds!" Twinkles shouted. "And ducks are birds!"

"Hold it, you two!" Spike shouted, jumping in between Twinkles and Duck Soup. "We can't worry about that now!"

"That's right," Brandy said. "The ponies didn't even notice when those crows took Lemon Drop's trophies!"

"Or Mimic's horseshoes," Spike said.

"Or Julie's locket," Twinkles said. "But what could they want with those?"

"I don't know," Spike said. "Maybe we should tell the ponies."

"Good idea!" Duck Soup quacked, and the animals started towards the Show Stable to tell Lemon Drop about her trophies. She and Gusty were fixing up the place. The crows really made a mess of it. Brandy barked to get their attention.

"Not now, Brandy," Lemon Drop said. "I'm busy."

"But it's important, Lemon Drop!" Spike shouted. "Those crows . . . ."

"Really made a mess of things," Gusty finished Spike's sentence, and she began hammering a shelf to the wall (with the hammer in her teeth). "We're gonna need all the concentration we can get, guys. Can you go play somewhere else? We'll play with you guys when we're done."

Brandy growled. He wanted to take a nip of Lemon Drop's tail, but Spike pulled him away.

"Come on," Spike said. "Let's go tell Mimic about her horseshoes."

The four animals went to Paradise Estate and walked into Mimic's room. Mimic, Locket, and Gingerbread were busy putting it back together.

"Mimic!" Spike shouted. "Hey Mimic!"

"Not now, Spike," Mimic said. "We're a little busy."

"Those crows really made a mess of things," Locket replied, putting a piece of cloth in a trunk.

"We know," Spike said. "But there's something we have to tell you about them!"

"Personally, I don't want to see another crow for a very long time!" Gingerbread shouted, as she picked up a big, black feather, and threw it out the window.

"Me neither," Mimic said. "I don't even want to hear the word 'crow' for even longer!"

Obviously, Mimic, Gingerbread, and Locket weren't going to listen to their little animal friends. So there was only one last place to go. The four animals went to go see Megan. She, Cupcake, and Julie were sitting in the kitchen, having a snack of strawberry shortcake and milk.

"Megan," Spike said. "We need to talk to you about those crows."

"Are they coming back?!" Julie suddenly shouted, panicking that those crows were coming back again.

"It's all right," Cupcake said, soothingly. "Don't you worry about those crows, Julie. They won't come back."

"I can't talk now, Spike," Megan said. "I've got my hands full."

"I think it would be best if we just forgot all about those crows," Cupcake said.

"I agree."

And with that, Megan, Cupcake and Julie walked out of the kitchen. Once they were out of sight and ear shot, Duck Soup let out a frustrated quack.

"Well that was a bust!" he shouted.

"What do we do now?" Brandy asked.

"It's up to us!" Spike shouted.

"Us?" Brandy, Twinkles, and Duck Soup said in unison.

"Sure!" Spike continued. "We have to trail those crows and get the gold back that they stole! You know they only stole what was gold!"

"Lemon Drop's trophies, Mimic's horseshoes, Julie's locket," Brandy said, listing the things the crows stole from the Estate. "Yup. They were all gold all right."

"And we gotta go after them and get the gold back!" Spike shouted. "Are you with me?"

"See ya!" Brandy, Twinkles, and Duck Soup shouted in unison again, and they started to walk off.

"Wait a minute, you guys!" Spike shouted. "The little ponies aren't going to pay attention to us, and we tried to tell them. It's up to us, now!"

"But Spi-ike!" Twinkles whined. "I'm just a little kitty!"

"And I'm just a little puppy!" Brandy shouted.

"And I'm just a little ducky!" Duck Soup quacked.

"Aw, come on, you guys!" Spike shouted. "We have to help! Mimic's horseshoes once saved her life, you know!"

"That's true," Brandy said, nodding. "And Lemon Drop worked hard to win those jumping trophies. She trained day in and day out."

"And Julie really likes her locket," Twinkles said. She thought it over, making trilling noises in her throat. Finally, she stood up, and marched towards Spike.

"I'll go with you, Spike!" she shouted.

"Me too!" Brandy shouted, running over. "I'll show those crows. _Rrrruff_!"

"You guys are nuts!" Duck Soup shouted. "Those crows are ten times bigger than we are! And we don't even know where they come from, or who they work for, or anything like that! For all we know, they could work for a big, mean giant at the top of a beanstalk who likes gold! I'll betcha he has a golden harp too, and he'll probably think I'm a goose that lays golden eggs if I go up there!"

"Duck Soup!" Twinkles shouted, quite exasperated with the little duck and his "fowl" temper (pun intended). "That's 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' and I seriously doubt the crows work for a giant that lives at the top of a beanstalk!"

"Come on, Duck Soup," Spike said. "We need all the help we can get."

"Oh all right," Duck Soup said, and joined the dragon, the kitten, and the puppy down a trail. "But if I end up skewered on a rotisserie, I'll never speak to any of you again!"


	3. Foward March

The quartet began to walk in the direction the crows flew away in. They made it to the depths of the Haunted Forest, and approached a crossroad.

"Where do we go now?" Duck Soup asked.

"Hmm," Spike said. "I say . . . . . west!"

"South!" Twinkles shouted.

"East!" Brandy commented after sniffing the ground.

"North!" Duck Soup shouted.

"But we just came from the north," Twinkles said.

"I know," Duck Soup replied. "Let's go home! I'm tired of this!"

Spike, Brandy, and Twinkles groaned. Brandy began sniffing the ground again, and he started going east. The others followed him. They figured it anyone could figure out the direction to go, it would be Brandy. Dogs have an impeccable sense of smell.

"I hope we don't end up at Skull Mountain," Duck Soup said. "Then I'll really be duck soup."

"Will you shut up?!" Brandy yelled at the duck. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

"Well, concentrate a little faster and find those crows," Duck Soup said, flapping his wings, angrily. "I wanna go home!"

Brandy ignored Duck Soup and continued sniffing around the ground. He finally picked up a scent, and began running down a path.

"_Baroo_!" he howled. "I got 'em!"

"Is it gonna take us to Skull Mountain?" Twinkles asked, a little nervously.

"I've been to Skull Mountain," Spike said. "It's the other way. Let's get going! The faster we find those crows, the faster we get everyone's stuff back, and the faster we can go home!"

"Lead on, Brandy!" Duck Soup shouted, and the quartet went down the path.

The four animals walked along for what seemed like hours. Duck Soup stopped and sat down.

"Man, if I walk anymore, I'll get flat feet!" he shouted.

"You already _have_ flat feet!" Twinkles shouted.

"Oh."

Duck Soup blushed a little, and shrunk his head down a little.

"It's almost dark anyway," Spike said. "Maybe we should bed down for the night."

"Out here?" Twinkles asked. "In the Haunted Forest?"

"What are you?" Brandy asked. "A scaredy cat?"

"I am not!" Twinkles retorted. "It's just . . . . dark, and scary. And cold!"

"It doesn't matter," Spike said. "We're on a mission. We've got to get everyone's gold back! A good night's sleep will help us feel better."

The other animals sighed and agreed with Spike. Duck Soup flapped his wings, and put his head under one of them. Brandy turned around three times, lay down, and closed his eyes. Twinkles stretched out, curled herself into a ball, and went to sleep. Spike sprawled out flat on his back, stared up at the stars for a moment or so, and closed his eyes.

Morning rolled around. Brandy was the first one up. He yawned and stretched. Then he smacked his lips, and looked over at his friends. All of them were still fast asleep. The little puppy walked over to Twinkles, and gave her a swat in the head.

"Ow!" Twinkles shouted, waking up. "Hey, what'd you do that for?!"

"Time to wake up!" Brandy shouted. Then he stood up on his hind legs, and began to imitate a bugle blowing revelee as loud as he could. That woke up Spike and Duck Soup.

"Why'd you go and wake me up?" Duck Soup asked. "I was dreaming about sleeping!"

"Never mind that," Spike said. "We have to find those birds who took the gold and get the gold back!"

"What do little ponies care about gold anyway?" Duck Soup asked, stifling a yawn. "They didn't seem to notice that it was missing!"

"But it belongs to the little ponies," Spike said.

"Well, the locket belongs to Julie," Twinkles said. "But I'm with Spike. Let's keep going."

The four animals continued down the path, with Brandy leading the way. He was sniffing around the ground, trying to pick up the scent. Hours passed. The foursome came to a fork in the road.

"Which way do we go?" Spike asked.

"Left!" Duck Soup shouted.

"Right!" Twinkles shouted.

Spike groaned. Brandy began sniffing down both paths, but he couldn't make heads or tails out of either of them.

"What's the matter, Brandy?" Spike asked. "Losing your touch?"

"Hmm," Brandy said, thoughtfully. He began sniffing around. Then he sat up and faced his friends. "I have a scientific way of dealing with this!"

"What's that?" Twinkles asked.

"Eenie, meenie, miney, moe," Brandy said.

Spike, Twinkles, and Duck Soup groaned. Brandy smiled sheepishly, and began sniffing around the ground again.

"Hmm . . . ." he said again. "Let's go . . . . . left!"

"Left?" Spike asked.

"Right," Brandy said.

"We go right?" Duck Soup asked.

"No left," Brandy said.

"Left," Twinkles repeated.

"Right," Brandy said.

"Make up your mind!" Duck Soup shouted.

"Which is it? Right or left?" Spike asked.

"Right! No, left," Brandy said. "Or is it right? Maybe it's left . . . . oooohhh, I'm all mixed up! Let's see here. Eenie, meenie, miney, moe . . . . ."

"Oh brother," Twinkles mumbled.

"Okay, I know now!" Brandy shouted, jumping up and down. "We go right! I think."

"Well, then, let's go right," Spike said, and the foursome went down the path on the right.

The animals walked down a very long path, and it was getting darker. The tree branches seemed like long fingers, reaching out to grab them as the wind blew.

"A-are you sure we're going the right way?" Twinkles asked, nervously.

"We're not in Shadow Forest, are we?" Spike asked.

"M-maybe we should've gone left," Brandy said.

"_Now_ you tell us!" Duck Soup shouted.

"L-let's turn back," Spike stammered.

"I don't like it here!" Twinkles wailed. "It's too scary!"

"Oh don't be such a scaredy cat, scaredy dog, and scaredy dragon!" Duck Soup shouted. "There's nothing to be afraid of!"

"Whooo-whooo-whooo-whooooo!"

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Duck Soup screamed as he flew into the air.

"It was just a hoot owl," Brandy said. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Remember? Scaredy duck."

"Ha, ha, ha," Duck Soup said, straightening out his feathers.


	4. Believe in Little Things

The foursome continued walking along the dark, scary path. Spike kept getting the feeling they were being followed after awhile. He kept glancing over his shoulder.

"I think we're being followed," he said, nervously.

"But what could be following us?" Twinkles asked.

Suddenly, there was a screech, and a swarm of big, black bats came flying out of the trees, and dive bombing our heroes. All of them screamed and began to run. The bats screeched and swooped down.

"Get away, get away!" Twinkles begged, mewing frantically.

"_Rrrrruff_!" Brandy growled, trying to scare them off. "Get outta here!"

"Go back to Dracula where you belong!" Spike shouted, swatting at the bats.

Duck Soup was flapping his wings violently, and stomping his feet, quacking up a storm. The bats kept on coming. Twinkles raised her paws, extended her claws and began swiping at the bats. Spike finally began blowing his fire breath out at the dragons until they all dispersed. By that time, Twinkles was crying.

"They were so icky!" she wailed. "And big and mean, and icky! Icky, icky, icky! I wanna go back to the Estaaaaaate!"

"Oh brother, you're such a scaredy cat, Twinkles," Duck Soup shouted. "And a cry kitty as well!"

"I am not a cry kitty!" Twinkles cried. "And I'm not a scaredy cat, either!"

"Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat!"

"Stop it!"

"Okay, you guys, knock it off," Spike said. "We've still got to find those crows and get our gold back."

The foursome walked on, but not before Duck Soup called Twinkles a "scaredy cat" again. To that, Twinkles hissed, and clawed Duck Soup's tail feathers.

"Ouch!" the little duck shouted.

"I told you to knock it off," Spike said, matter-of-factly.

"Razzen fracken bracken razzen," Duck Soup muttered, rubbing his tail feathers.

A few hours passed. The foursome made it out of the forest they were in. They began to jump around happily.

"Yay!" Twinkles shouted. "We're out! We're out! Now we're getting somewhere!"

"Uhh, not quite," Brandy said. "Take a look at that."

Duck Soup, Spike, and Twinkles looked where Brandy was pointing. Ahead of them lay a valley, filled with all kinds of paths and roads.

"Oh no!" Spike shouted.

"Which one do we follow?" Duck Soup asked.

"I can't take much more of this!" Brandy shouted, flopping down on the ground. "My nose hurts!"

"My feet hurt," Duck Soup said, sitting down. Then he shot up. "And, thanks to Twinkles, my tail feathers hurt!"

"We'll never find those crows now," Spike said.

"Come on, you guys!" Twinkles shouted. "We made it this far. We might as well go all the way!"

"But we'll never find those crows," Spike said, with a sigh. "Look at all these different paths! How will we know if we're following the right one?"

"Come on you guys," Twinkles said. "Chin up!"

"Huh?" Duck Soup asked.

"Come on!" Twinkles shouted. "It isn't over until the fat lady sings! It's always darkest before the dawn! When life deals you lemons, make lemonade! When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!"

"You know something Twinkles?" Duck Soup said.

"What?" Twinkles asked.

"You're way too cheerful to be a cat. Why can't you be more cynical?"

Twinkles growled and hissed at Duck Soup and was preparing to claw him again, but Spike stepped in between them.

"We don't have time for that!" Spike shouted. "Look up there!"

The little animals looked up and saw a group of crows fly by. In their claws were gold. All kinds of gold!

"Let's follow them!" Brandy shouted. "Quickly!"

The little animals ran after the crows. Well, Spike, Brandy, and Twinkles did. Duck Soup flew after them. They reached a large, spooky looking castle. All the crows cawed, and flew through a tower window.

"Is that . . . . . Skull Mountain?" Twinkles asked timidly.

"No," Spike said, shaking slightly. "I don't know what that is. Boy, I wish the little ponies were here."

"Me too," Twinkles said.

"Well, don't just stand there, you guys," Duck Soup said. "If we're ever gonna get the gold back, we've gotta get going!"

The little animals gulped, and started towards the castle. They walked over to the front door, and slowly opened it. They were glad that there wasn't a drawbridge there. They followed the sound of cawing and mad cackling, up a flight of stairs, and into a room filled with gold. They saw gold coins, gold bars, gold jewelry, gold plates, gold colored material, trophies, horseshoes, gold braids, and even gold teeth.

"Eeeeeuuuuwwww!" Twinkles grimaced. She wrinkled her nose in disgust when she saw all the gold teeth.

Laying on top a pile of gold was a man decked out in blue and (what else?) gold. He began throwing it up in the air.

"You've done well, my fine feathered friends," he said. "Look at all this glittering gold! And it's mine! All mine! Wheee!"

"This guy's one sandwich short of a picnic," Spike said.

"No kidding," Brandy said. "But how are we going to get all the gold away from him?"

"Go right over and take it!" Duck Soup shouted. "He'll never notice it! We're so small!"

"Duck Soup, wait!" Spike shouted.

But it was too late. Duck Soup ran out, and tried to pull a gold rug away from this guy. Spike, Twinkles, and Brandy ran after him to give him a hand. This gold crazed goof ball continued to throw his gold in the air, screaming in delighted laughter, he didn't even notice the four little animals taking his rug, until they managed to pull the rug out. They sent the man into the air, and he crashed to the ground.

"What the . . . ." he started, and then he saw the little animals standing there. Then he let out a petrified scream.

"He squeals like a girl," Duck Soup quacked.

"Animals!" the gold thief shouted. "Beasts! After my gold! Away with you, you . . . . you filthy creatures!"

The man picked up a broom and began swatting at the animals.

"Whoa!" Duck Soup quacked.

"Yipe!" Brandy yipped.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Spike shouted.

"Get away from my gold, you flea bitten creatures!" the man shouted.

"It's not your gold!" Spike shouted. "Some of it belongs to our friends, the little ponies!"

"Ponies don't care about gold!" the man shouted. "All they care about is hay, and oats, and running in the Kentucky Derby!"

"You don't know the little ponies like we do, do you?"

"Unhand my gold, you overgrown lizard!"

The man swatted Spike with the broom. He dropped the gold he was holding immediately. The man picked up the rug and began to brush it off.

"Oh dear, now I shall have to get it cleaned!" he moaned. "My gold! Ruined!"

"Oh brother," Spike groaned. "Gold isn't everything you know."

"It is to me," the man said. "I can't get enough gold! Gold, gold, gold!"

"He's definitely one brick shy of a full load," Twinkles whispered to Brandy. The little puppy barked in agreement.

"Well, you can't have this gold," Spike said. "It doesn't belong to you!"

"It does now," the man said. "I love gold! Anything gold! I even have the Golden Fleece!"

"Who would want golden fleas?" Spike asked.

"_Fleece_ you dimwitted dragon! Not fleas! And it's mine! All mine!"

Spike sighed. He knew he had to do something to get all the gold back to their rightful owners. He brought Brandy and Duck Soup in for a huddle. Twinkles kept her eye on the man. Finally, Spike, Brandy, and Duck Soup broke out of their huddle. Brandy bent forward, and growled. Twinkles looked over at him, and her fur bristled. She let out a shriek and jumped for the highest place in the room. This happened to be the man's head. She bared her claws and began clawing at the guy's head, out of fright. Brandy was scaring the heebie jeebies out of her!

"Ouch! Ooch! Get off my head, you fur ball!" the man shouted as he staggered back and forth.

Brandy kept barking at Twinkles. Spike and Duck Soup began loading the gold, and throwing it out the window. It all landed in a wagon. Once they got all the gold, they jumped out the window.

"Okay guys!" Spike called.

Brandy stopped barking and jumped out the window. Twinkles did the same. Once they were in the wagon, Spike gave it a push, and it rolled down the hill.

"Great plan, Spike!" Brandy shouted. Twinkles growled, and swiped Brandy in the nose, hard.

"OUCH!" Brandy shouted, covering his nose with his paws. "Owie, owie, owie!"

"DON'T EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!" Twinkles shouted.

"After them!" the man ordered his crows.

With the loud cawing, the crows flew out the window and after the wagon.

"Now I wish the little ponies were here!" Duck Soup shouted. "Then they could pull the wagon!"

The crows came down on the little animals. They all began throwing some of the gold at them, to keep them busy. Luckily they were rolling right towards Paradise Estate. Gusty, Peachy, Lemon Drop, and Sprinkles heard all the cawing going on, and came outside to see what was going on.

"The crows are back!" Peachy shouted.

"I'll get rid of them!" Gusty shouted. She took a deep breath, and lit up her horn. The largest gust of wind imaginable came from it, and blew all the crows far into the forest, never to be seen again. The four ponies then ran to the wagon where their little animal friends were.

"Where have you guys been?" Gusty asked.

"Getting your gold back," Spike said, holding up one of Mimic's horseshoes.

All the other ponies and their friends came out to see what was going on. Mimic promptly put on her horseshoes. Lemon Drop, Peachy, and Megan took Lemon Drop's trophies and went to display them.

"I was wondering where all our gold stuff got to," Lemon Drop said.

"Especially Julie's locket," Magic Star said. "When she found out it was missing, she got hysterical on us."

Twinkles jumped out of the wagon with something in her mouth. She walked into the Estate, and found Julie, who was napping in Medley's bedroom. The little orange kitten jumped onto the bed, and pawed at Julie.

"Mew," she said.

Julie stirred, and woke up. She saw Twinkles and smiled.

"Hi, Twinkles," she said. "What's that?"

"Mew."

Julie picked up the little gold object laying at Twinkles's paws and looked at it closely. Then she gasped, and scooped the little kitten into her arms.

"Oh you wonderful little kitty!" she shouted, giving Twinkles a hug. "You found my locket!"

Twinkles purred, and snuggled against Julie. Megan and Magic Star came into the room, followed by Spike, who was telling them what happened.

"And then Twinkles jumped on his head and clawed him!" Spike shouted.

"I can't believe it," Magic Star said. "I can't believe you four did it all by yourselves! I mean you're so little!"

"Big things come in small packages," Julie said, giving Twinkles another hug. Then she set her down, and went to find Medley. Megan and Magic Star followed her.

"We did good," Spike said to Twinkles. "Not bad for four little animals."

"You just gotta believe in little things," Twinkles said.

The End


End file.
